Andre Dirrell back in action on February 2nd in McAllen, Texas

dirrell23427 By Bill Phanco: 29-year-old former super middleweight contender Andre Dirrell (20-1, 14 KO’s) will be making his long awaited ring return next month on February 2nd at the Convention Center in McAllen, Texas. Dirrell still doesn’t have an opponent for the fight despite it being only a week a half away from the fight. Dirrell last fought well over a year ago in beating Darryl Cunningham by a 2nd round knockout.

Before that, Dirrell hadn’t fought in a year and a half since beating Arthur Abraham by an 11th round technical decision in the Super Six tournament back in March 2010.

Dirrell has great hand speed and skills, but he’s going to have to seriously get his career in gear on the fast track if he wants to amount to something. Dirrell can’t afford to fight once a year if he wants to capture a title. What Dirrell needs to do is try and fight at least 8 times in 2013, so he can be in position to fight for a world title in 2014.

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Hearn wants Froch vs. Kessler 2 to be PPV

By Michael Collins: Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport plans on making the rematch between Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler a pay per view bout on Sky Box Office. This apparently is needed in part to help out with the costs of the contracts for Froch and Kessler, both of which will be receiving 2 million pounds are more for the fight. The PPV part for the fight will be finalized by next week, according to the Telegraph.

Hearn said in an interview with the telegraph.co.uk “For a fight of this magnitude like Froch-Kessler to take place, pay-per-view is a necessity.”

Sky TV got out of the PPV business following some disastrous bouts like the Audley Harrison vs. David Haye fight in 2010. It’s interesting that Sky TV will get back into the PPV boxing business for Kessler-Froch rematch.

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Will Kelly Pavlik return to the ring?

BY Robert Jackson – Before for MW Champ Kelly ‘The Ghost’ Pavlik’s unceremonious retirement last week he was on the verge of facing 168lb powerhouse Andre Ward. If not for Ward suffering a shoulder injury that fight was supposed to take place in January or mid February. But alas it was not meant to be, Ward who originally thought that resting that sore shoulder would be enough, sought a 2nd medical opinion after which he opted to have the shoulder surgically repaired.

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Washed up after one punch – the unglamorous decline of Manny Pacquiao

pac342 by Anthony Jeffrey – When is a boxer really ‘washed up’? It seems to be a common expression used in the boxing world after a top class fighter takes a beating, most likely for the first time in his career; gets knocked out and isn’t the same afterwards; or just isn’t as good as he was a couple of years earlier.

In late 2008, after crushing Oscar de la Hoya, against the odds, it seemed as if we would never see the day that the invincible Manny Pacquiao be referred to as ‘washed up’. Yet after a being on the receiving end of a dodgy split decision and perfectly placed punch it seems like he has been placed in the same dreaded category as fighters who continue to participate in freak shows of fights because they didn’t manage their finances properly during their prime.

Boxing fans can be the most critical yet fickle and narrow minded amongst sports fans. Fighters, and indeed other boxing fans, are subjected to fierce and often childish criticism all over boxing websites and social media platforms. However, in a sport where some of the contributing factors of a boxer’s worth are nationality, popularity, and pre-fight hype, this is not overly surprising: Miguel Cotto was on top of the world until his loss to Antonio Margarito turned the tables and left him being labelled washed up. Ironically, Shane Mosley was already universally considered washed up before he sent Margarito flying from his perch to the canvas. But even after inheriting the throne, in terms of fight fan hype, Mosley’s renaissance was short lived when a subsequent beating from Floyd Mayweather has now left him eternally washed up.

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Mikey Garcia still has a lot of questions that need to be answered

By Bill Phanco: If you looked at Mikey Garcia’s 8th round technical decision win over WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido last Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, you might have focused mainly on how Garcia was able to hurt Salido on a number of occasions while knocking him down four times in the early going. However, if you paid close attention to how Garcia was starting to slow down in the 7th and 8th rounds and losing his power, you’ll have noticed that Garcia might be showing the hints of problems that other fighters can take advantage of in the future.

The 8th round was especially significant because you saw Garcia actually looking worried as he was standing against and taking big shots from Salido. Garcia was no longer able to hurt Salido with his single power shots, and he wasn’t able to stop Salido’s attacks by pushing his head away like he’d done in the earlier rounds. Garcia had been warned about the pushing of Salido but he had continued to use this move with great effectiveness to blunt many of Salido’s attacks. But by the 7th and 8th, Salido was able to duck under Garcia’s attempts at pushing him to land solid shots.

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Orlando Salido to move up to super featherweight, targeting Roman Martinez

By Bill Phanco: Former WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido (39-12-2, 27 KO’s) will be opting to move up to super featherweight to go after a title in that weight class against WBO super featherweight champion Roman “Rocky” Martinez in September, according to fightnews.com. Salido, 32, wants to fight a 10 round bout in May against a still to be determined opponent in Mexico, and then from there move on to face Martinez for the World Boxing Organization super featherweight title.

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Mare’s manager working with Arum on Donaire-Mares fight for April 13th

mares34 By Jeff Sorby: Frank Espinosa, the manager for unbeaten WBC super bantamweight champion Abner Mares (25-0-1, 13 KO’s) is reportedly working with Top Rank promoter to put together an April 13th fight between Mares and WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire.

This is the big money fight that Donaire and Mares both want and Espinosa is the contact person for Arum in trying to work a deal with Mares’ promoters at Golden Boy Promotions
According to the LA Times, they’ll know whether the fight can be put together within the next couple of weeks.

Part of the deal will be that Donaire gets a little more money than Mares, but if Mares defeats Donaire, then in a rematch Mares will be the one that gets the bigger purse. Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, doubts that Arum will agree to this deal because Schaefer feels that Arum suspects that Donaire will lose the fight.

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Malignaggi-Mosley negotiations falling apart; Paulie wants Maidana

By Kevin Chittenden: WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi may not be facing Shane Mosley on April 27th, according to fightnews.com. There’s been a snag in the negotiations between Malignaggi and Mosley, and the fight might not happen now. Paulie says he’s interested in facing #2 WBA Marcos Maidana, according to Steve Kim.

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Canelo to fight on May 4th, possible opponents Angulo, Kirkland or Trout

By Jeff Sorby: It was confirmed by Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer on Tuesday that WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo”Alvarez will be fighting on the same card as Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 4th at the MGM Grand, but not against Mayweather. According to the LA Times, Canelo will face one of the following fighters: Alfredo Angulo, James Kirkland or Austin Trout.

Schaefer isn’t mentioning who the leading candidate is for the fight but the fact that Angulo and Kirkland are both Golden Boy fighters would seem to suggest that one of those two will ultimately get the fight with Canelo. Schaefer hasn’t seemed all that interested in a Trout-Canelo fight when asked about it in the media. He feels that Trout hasn’t done enough yet for the fight, although if Angulo or Kirkland is selected, you have to wonder exactly they’ve done in their careers to get the fight.

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Broner vs. Rees: Gavin will have problems with Adrien’s power

By Michael Collins: Gavin Rees (37-1-1, 18 KO’s) is going to have to dramatically alter his normal fighting style next month if he doesn’t want to get bludgeoned into submission within the first three rounds of the fight against WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (25-0, 22 KO’s) in their fight at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The reason for this is because Rees is a brawler 100 percent and he doesn’t focus too much attention on his defense as he plods in to slug against his opposition.

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